h kills in a university aquarium. Burkholder and her colleagues are also significant in pfiesteria research because they have experienced some of the immuno-suppression symptoms thought to be caused in humans by the pfiesteria toxins. Both Burkholder and one of her colleagues suffered symptoms that were serious enough to have their work rated a Level 2 biohazard by university officials, a level equating to rabies and just below that of working with AIDS. The symptoms and illnesses reported by Burkholder and her colleague, Dr. Howard Glasgow, are similar to those reported by fishers, boaters and other people who used waterways in Maryland and Virginia in the summer of 1997, “One day early in her research, after spending three hours in her laboratory’s small environmental chamber, gently pouring culture containing the algae into a flask, Burkholder became steadily disoriented; she began to suffer from stomach cramps and underwent an asthma attack. Her eyes became
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